Copyright C.M. Mitchell Consulting 2005 Taxonomy 101 – Why is it so Important? Presented by: Carol Mitchell

Copyright C.M. Mitchell Consulting 2005

Taxonomy 101 – Why is it so Important?

Presented by: Carol Mitchell


Agenda

The Role of TaxonomyThe Role of Taxonomy

Developing a TaxonomyDeveloping a Taxonomy

Taxonomy Example/DiscussionTaxonomy Example/Discussion

What is Taxonomy?What is Taxonomy?

QuestionsQuestions


Taxonomy - Wikipedia

Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification.

Taxonomies, which are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa (singular taxon), are frequently hierarchical in structure, commonly displaying parent-child relationships.

Used in scientific community

for a long time to organize and

categorize life forms


Additional Definitions

Enterprise Content Management - (ECM) The technologies used to capture, store, preserve and

deliver content and documents and content related to organizational processes.

Classification – Process of analyzing content and organizing it with the

additional assignment of metadata tags (indexes for retrieval)

Thesaurus – Network of word meanings and relationships – used to

assist in the understanding of a taxonomy


Taxonomy Fundamentals

Taxonomy Classification of data into an organized structure that can

be understood by anyone with the need to retrieve content when and where needed

Not consistent between industries, businesses – ambiguous

Requires constant evaluation for changes within an organization

Enterprise taxonomies support the identification, organization, retrieval, retention of all documents across an organization.


Why Taxonomy?

Content – Structured vs. Unstructured Approximately 80% of content is unstructured

Explosion of data – Information overload

Multiple repositories, file shares, filing cabinets, desktop files

Information scattered, duplicated, valuable space used to store information

No management of one of the most important business assets – information


Why Taxonomy?

After years of using technology to digitize and automate the routing of documents, it is estimated that professionals are still spending more time looking for information than using it.

Delphi Group’s research reveals that lack of organization of information is the number one problem in information management and retrieval, in the opinion of business professionals

Need to control, secure, route, deliver, store and destroy content (Use of ECM)


Taxonomy helps ‘find’ data

Source: Delphi Group


Taxonomy’s Role in ECM

Increase Worker Productivity Customer Service, routing of electronic content

Eliminate Redundancy Reusable information

Maximize value of Intellectual assets Less impact when knowledge workers leave

Legal Discovery/Compliance One copy of the ‘Truth”

Better decision making More knowledge is better


Feeling Lucky?

Finding information in your organization should not be about feeling lucky… Browse vs Search


User’s MUST Understand the Taxonomy

I’m sorry but we don’t

sell pop

I would like to place an

order for 100 cans of

pop, please.


Taxonomy is the Core of ECM

Search

Portals

Compliance

Content

Taxonomy

Process

Taxonomy to ECM is as critical as the technology itself


The Importance of Taxonomy

Records/content inventories shorten

taxonomy development and feed

ECM systems

Content systems manage all unstructured content for the

enterprise and are reflective of the enterprise taxonomy

Standard taxonomy improves overall search capabilities improving

efficiency

Taxonomy driven portals provide an intuitive

interface that guides/drives access to corporate

information resources.

Search

Portals

Compliance

Content

Taxonomy

Process

Taxonomy decreases the overall time to automate core processes by

standardizing interface definitions


Taxonomy Development – Getting Started

Most importantly, understand strategic corporate vision

Senior management support!

Identify Stakeholders Management, supervisors, end-users

Define Goals, scope of project Enterprise? Proof of Concept?

Gather content information Questionnaires, interviews, follow document flows,

content storage locations (file drawers, PC’s Fileshares, Filestores, etc.)


Taxonomy Information Sources

Records Management Plan A good place to start, but …. Not all content is a

corporate “record”

Existing Document Storage Structure Incorporate legacy system concepts and eliminate or

rename as appropriate

Day-to-day business processes Reiterations of content Information Lifecycle


Taxonomy Types

Determine type of Taxonomy - Based on: Functional usage Business units Subject matters Location

Pros/Cons of each Probably best for ECM, but requires corporate buy-in Easy to understand but changes frequently Good or research but probably not specific enough Good for international companies, difficult to centralize


Developing a Taxonomy

Top Down vs. Bottom-Up – Use Both! Analyze business areas Analyze the content of the documents

Development Options Start with file plan, current filing systems, etc. using a

spreadsheet Use ECM vendor industry pre-defined taxonomies and

modify as needed Purchase a pre-defined taxonomy and modify Buy automated software to analyze documents


Developing a Taxonomy

Categories Need for flexibility due to constant change Consistent User Experience (Expert vs. Novice)

Metadata Used for searching Used to indicate relationships Used to track content lifecycles Should ALWAYS be validated and auto-populated as

much as possible


Taxonomy Components

A Taxonomy needs to include: Thesaurus to assist users with vocabulary of

taxonomy Relationships between content, fields or terms

(hierarchical, equivalence, and associative) Security – roles and responsibilities Retention periods Storage locations Enterprise relationship


Governance Committee

Taxonomy – Living Document

Define Committee Members Management, Records Management, Legal, Compliance,

End Users

Define Roles and Responsibilities Changes to taxonomy, metadata, terms

Policies/Procedures Reviewing and approving changes Addressing issues with taxonomy, etc.


Delivering a Taxonomy

Build a Taxonomy Prototype Review with users Create a controlled vocabulary and/or thesaurus Define metadata to reflect relationships

Train Users/Roll-out a Pilot Get user feedback Revise

Define on-going Governance Committee Control changes as content changes


Resources for you to use…

Dublin Core ISO 15836 XMI AIIM ARMA NISO UNSPSC


Contracts – Example Taxonomy Discussion

Contracts: Business Unit? Function? Type of contract (lease, software, employee,

vendor, customer, etc.) Should all contracts be stored together whether

in process or finalized? How does legal access contracts versus

business users? Subsequent contracts that nullify old ones How do you identify and reuse contract clauses?


Questions?

C.M. Mitchell Consulting

(303) 526-2796

[email protected]

Documents

Copyright C.M. Mitchell Consulting 2005 Taxonomy 101 – Why is it so Important? Presented by: Carol Mitchell